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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson & Renee LaTulippe

Category: Blog

Published: 25 September 2025

Today, I’m pleased to welcome a teacher and friend, Renee LaTulippe. I have known Renee for a couple years, but it feels like even longer through her online videos. [Note to readers: If you have questions on writing in verse, check out Renee LaTulippe's website for answers to all your nagging questions on meter and more.]

Let 's get right to it!

TKJ: Renee, I am so excited about your forthcoming book Limelight: Curtain Up On Poetry Comics! It's truly unique with bits and bobs of comic book, graphic novel, and poetry collection. The subtitle says it all: curtain up on poetry comics! Did you envision a comic format from Limelight's inception? Why is the format important?

RL: Thanks for having me, Tracey! 

I definitely did not envision a comic format for Limelight! To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I had created with this manuscript, or for what age group, so it was hard for me to imagine what shape it would take. Luckily, I had a visionary editor—Yolanda Scott—who did a lot of that noodling for me and eventually suggested the poetry comics format. Once that idea was out there, I had a much clearer vision of what I wanted—and it was very painterly, to be frank. After exploring that rather austere path a bit, Yolanda suggested this more kid-friendly graphic novel style. I admit it took me a minute to come around to the idea, but soon enough I realized she was absolutely right!

In fact, this format helped define the audience for the book, and even the book’s purpose and place became so much clearer to me. Making poetry engaging and accessible and simply interesting to a wide range of kids still seems like a tall order, and this format helped do all those things. I could not be more thrilled with the whole process and how Yolanda’s vision—and Chuck Gonzales’s illustrations—brought the manuscript to life. 

TKJ: How interesting that the art style helped define the purpose of the book after the text was written!

Read more: Limelight

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 08 August 2025

Grief is the rawest emotion. What's lost will never return.

Grief means living in the after, knowing there’s no path back to the before.

I won’t welcome grief. Not yet.

painting source: Mezma and Azzayal

Dragonfly Grief

Dragonfly dances,
lake-bound,
skimming midges.

Does she know
grief,
loss,
sorrow?

When she draws
her last tiny breath
and sinks
into blue,
gives up 
all she knew,
does she exhale
satisfaction
or relief?

© Draft, Tracey Kiff-Judson

photo source: Glaminati.com

An exchange of blog comments with Margaret Simon inspired this poem.

Without You

I cling to
cool cotton pillows,
firefly flashes,
summer-sweet
plums.

Comfort comes
in small doses.

© Draft, Tracey Kiff-Judson

Please visit our Poetry Friday host Molly at Nix the comfort zone for this week’s round up. To learn more about Poetry Friday, please check out: What Is Poetry Friday? by Renee LaTulippe.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 24 July 2025

Happy Poetry Friday, everyone! Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Interested in more information about Poetry Friday? Click here. Please be sure to visit our host Marcie Flinchum Atkins for a glimpse of her relaxing Nevermore Retreat and the Poetry Friday roundup.

This week, I am happy for the opportunity to review the recently released picture book from a wonderfully poetic writer, my critique buddy, Korena Di Roma Howley. Korena’s powerful writing shines in her new story Sarang Saves the School, colorfully illustrated by Joowan Oh and published by Candlewick Press.

Based upon real events, this story opens in a small fishing village in South Korea where the local school is in danger of closing. Many families have relocated to cities to find work, and Sarang sits in a classroom with the few remaining children. Will the school be able to remain open with so few students?

To make matters worse, if the school closes, will Sarang and her parents need to move to the city and leave behind her beloved grandparents?

Sarang uses her ingenuity and determination to find a solution that not only saves the school, but also benefits earlier generations of women who were denied an education.

In this heartwarming story of female empowerment, Sarang turns a seemingly insurmountable set of problems into a multi-generational solution that holds her family, the school, and the village together.

One aspect of this story that I love is its appreciation for the importance of education. Sarang and her family prioritize education in their lives. In the United States, we may sometimes take teachers, schools, and our education system for granted, but when our education system is challenged, in ways both small and large, I hope we rise to the occasion, like Sarang, and fight for an equal education for all.

This inspiring story is available in both e-book and hard-cover today. Thank you to Korena and Candlewick for permission to share selected spreads.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 29 May 2025

Happy Poetry Friday!

Thank you to Karen Edmisten* for hosting this week’s round up. Visit her blog for a poem by Wendell Berry that contains the line: I greet you at the beginning, for we are either beginning or we are dead. Wowza!

I have so missed everyone! I can’t wait to read about your most recent beginnings. Today, I just have a silly story.

We are wrapping up a kitchen remodel that has left me feeling discombobulated for the last several months. I failed to realize that the kitchen is the center of life in our house and how difficult it would be without it.

Several weeks back, we decided to move our old fridge out by ourselves. My husband, my son, and I thought this would be a piece of icebox cake! We backed the pickup truck to the front door, lined up boards and dollies, removed the refrigerator doors so that it would fit through our skinny doorframes, and pushed. This strategy worked surprisingly well. We made it out of the kitchen, through the dining room, through the living room, and out onto the front porch without incident.

As we inched the refrigerator up the planks into the back of the truck, it tipped barely a fraction of an inch. Suddenly, everything was off kilter and the refrigerator plummeted into the rhododendron. The three of us stared in disbelief. This debacle inspired this sketch and poem:

Steady Eddie, Refrigerator

Steady Eddie, let her ride –
sailing on her dolly-boat.
Swishing over carpet oceans,
luckily, she stays afloat.

Over thresholds, under doorways,
squeezing down the skinny hall,
navigating architecture –
unafraid of any squall.

The journey’s final leg arrives.
Up the ramp, we make an end-run.
Then a breeze sends us adrift –
we capsize in the rhododendron!

Admittedly, a few issues with that poem, but I had fun writing it, spur of the moment.

Here's a photo of the incident:

When all hope seemed lost, a jeep pulled up - as if it were already on its way to our house. A mother-son duo hopped out and took charge of this dire situation. A quick push-pull-lift and that fridge was loaded neatly into the back of the truck.

As quickly as they arrived, this dynamic duo leapt back into their jeep and drove off. I ran after them with fresh-baked focaccia, which they graciously accepted, then disappeared into the sunset.

In a world filled with chaos, this mother-son pair arrived, no-questions-asked, and saved the day. How can I not have a little faith in humanity after that?

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 07 March 2025

It’s a rainbow-filled Poetry Friday!

Please visit our marvelous host Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche for a hermit crab poem hiding in a weather report and this week’s colorful roundup.

Recently, I was fortunate to get a peek at a vibrant new anthology A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World by Matt Forrest Esenwine.

Thank you to Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for sharing a preview!

A Universe of Rainbows is a delicious triple-decker sandwich of vibrant artwork, lyrical language, and scientific sidebars. Right away, I was amazed by the number of places that rainbows appear in nature – from underground caverns to outer space. You can find rainbows in water, geological formations, flowers, and feathers. A Universe of Rainbows dives into the science behind each of these phenomena with helpful expository sidebars and back matter.

All these gorgeous rainbows are wrapped in luscious language from some of today’s most notable poets. The incomparable Nikki Grimes gives us a frown-turned-upside-down introductory poem “The Saturday of No.”

Matt Forrest Esenwine follows with his frolicking poem “Sun Dogs.” Sunshine, rainbows, and dogs all in one poem – who could ask for more?

“Rainbow Waters” by David L. Harrison is another of my favorites. This poem, and others in this anthology, encourage deeper thought about the impact humans have on the natural world, for better and worse. It is a great opener for a discussion about how we engage with the world around us.

If you enjoy studying poetry, you will also have fun reading the array of poetic forms sprinkled throughout this book. Special tip: you won’t want to miss Marilyn Singer’s “Rainbows in a Cage.”

And then there is the art! A Universe of Rainbows is an iridescent masterpiece featuring the vivid artwork of Jamey Christoph. The illustrations bloom with all the colors of the rainbow (as you might have anticipated)! Each page of stunning artwork radiates a magical beauty that brings its accompanying poem to life.

You can look for A Universe of Rainbows on April 1^st (or preorder today). Be sure to check out Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s poem “Cano Cristales Speaks” which reminds us “we are each much more than we seem.” Maybe you’ll find there’s a rainbow inside of you!

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 27 February 2025

Happy Poetry Friday!  

I have been on a Billy Colins kick lately. I just read both Whale Day (Random House, 202) and Musical Tables (Random House, 2022).

Collins, former US Poet Laureat, stirs the ordinary with a pinch of wonder and a dash of humor in Musical Tables, a collection of short poems. He discusses the short poem as a form and gives over 100 examples that make one think, smile, frown, and occasionally laugh aloud. It is a very quick read!

As I read Musical Tables, I started thinking about the mental images that poems inspire. It occurred to me that one could create a “reverse ekphrastic” by using a poem to inspire visual art. I snapped a few pictures inspired by poems from this collection, selected a few from my photo library, and even borrowed a couple from Wikipedia.

What do you think of these pairings? A picture follows each poem.

Limits

Even on a calm day
if you remain quiet
and hold your breath,

you still will not
be able to hear
the singing of the clouds.

I couldn't pick just one for limits because all of these clouds seemed to be singing, just different tunes...
 

Look

The morning lake
was smooth as a mirror.

A few angels were even seen
flying down

just after dawn
to check themselves out.

The Dead of Winter

We will all die
in one month or another.

Many of the above
left us in December

while others will stay on
to see in the new year.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Trouble
was not
his middle name.

ENG 243: The History of Egotism

You will notice, class,
that Wordsworth did not write

“Edward, the butcher’s son,
wandered lonely as a cloud.”

[Photo: Wikipedia]

 Here is what Wordsworth did say.

New York Directions

It’s down
in the village
between
Bleek
and Bleekest.

View from a Bridge

I never thought
of myself
as a little universe
inside a big one
until just now.

Poetry Collection

They mutter
in the alleys of the city,

the old ones
who were not selected.

The Exception

Whoever said
there’s a poem
lurking in the darkness
of every pencil
was not thinking of this one.

Disappointing Freak Show

A bearded man,
a one-headed chicken,
a sailor with a tattoo,
and a three-legged piano.

All poems © Billy Collins, Musical Tables, 2022. Photos © Tracey Kiff-Judson unless otherwise noted. 

Please visit our Poetry Friday host, the patriotic, fighter-for-liberty-and-truth Denise Krebs at Dare to Care.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 13 February 2025

On a dreary, February morning, at the SCBWI conference in NYC, I dragged myself to the gym. 

The windows of the hotel fitness center looked across the street at people working in an office building.

It reminded me of an "Ant Farm."

You know - one of those double panes of plexiglass filled with sand and ants building tunnels?

                               Source: uncle-milton-large-viewing-area-ant-farm-1.jpg (1500×1500)

As I pedaled my stationary bike to nowhere, I peered into these strangers’ work lives. 

I took my nosiness a step further, and I snapped a few pictures and wrote some phrases about what I observed. 

That evolved into the following poem, which I fear is a little dark, especially for a Valentine's Day post. My apologies!

Ant Farm

sand-colored walls
support the maze –
carefully constructed
to prevent collapse

workers drag and drop
bit by bit,
opening windows
behind windows
that don't open

some climb higher
some burrow deeper
everyone works
to expand The Colony

The Colony must grow
to support The Queen

does she live
a privileged life?

no, she’s in
the boiler room
pumping out eggs
it's a sweatshop
down there too

a worker delivers food
to the top floor
everyone swarms
around The Crumb
hoping for tales 
of The Outside:
    is the sunlight intense?
    do waterbombs fall from the sky?

they don't love
sand-colored lives,
but at least
they’re secure,
warm,
dry …

until The Giant Hand
shakes their world

© Draft 2024, Tracey Kiff-Judson

On a happier note, it’s Poetry Friday! 

Please visit the wonderful Linda Baie at TeacherDance for a poetic stroll down Musical Memory Lane and this week's roundup.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 24 January 2025

Happy Poetry Friday! Please visit our host, the incomparable Tabetha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for a brave poetry zine and this week’s roundup!

Just a short post this week, as I am trying to wrap up a few pieces before the 2025 SCBWI conference in NYC next weekend. Is anyone else attending? If so, I would love to see you there and say,” Hello!”

This week, my “pruning” got off to a slow start. I identified six cookbooks to donate. I have many more, so that project has just begun. I am wondering if seven copies (mostly different editions) of The Joy of Cooking is too many? Perhaps.

We had our first major snowfall of the year in CT this week, and I enjoyed a hike in the woods just before sunset.

 This prickly, little burdock caught my eye. It seemed to be waiting patiently, its little hooks buried under a drum major's hat of snow, dreaming of spring’s passing rabbit.

Patience

Patience
is a virtue shared
by burdocks and briars.

© Tracey Kiff-Judson, draft 2025